[Harp-L] Fun in the Harp List archives

Philharpn@xxxxxxx · Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:08:03 EDT

Went to the Harp List archives pages just to check them out.

Fun to go back to the start of the list. I enjoyed reading about the THEN  
news story in the New York Times about the patent awarded to Rick Epping for the 
 XB-40 "that would bend on every hole." What a concept! 

Veteran harmonica dealer Richard Farrell of F & R Farrell was consulted  and 
he was quoted offering his assurance that the NEW harp was nothing more than  
a version of the Koch chromatic and Hohner already had a Slide Harp which was 
a  half-valved version of the Koch. Both harmonicas have 10 holes and the 
Richter  or diatonic layout. 

Of course, everybody now knows that while the Koch and Slide Harp  and  XB-40 
(aka Extreme Bender) have the same general outside dimensions, the XB-40  is 
an entirely different animal. There seemed to be a general misunderstanding  
of the Koch and Slide Harp, too. One guy said he had a Koch but he didn't know  
what to do with it (apparently not understanding it was simply a diatonic  
chromatic).

The Koch and Slide Harp are the size of "standard" solo tuned 10-hole  
chromatic. Because of their size they are a little more difficult to navigate  than 
the small 10-hole Marine Band -- even though their layout is the same. The  
holes are bigger and farther apart. But they bend pretty much the same. 

The Slide Harp even blow bends on the first six hole just like a standard  
chromatic. The Koch lacks valves or windsavers and leaks so badly it is almost  
useless. The lack of valves doesn't make it easier to bend notes, it just 
makes  the harp really leaky. The Slide Harp, however, seems to play almost as 
airtight  as a standard chromatic.

Both the Koch and Slide Harp are not totally "chromatic" because they still  
lack the A note in the low octave simply because there is no G# to raise a  
half-step to the A with the press of the button. But the A is an easy  bend!

And so here we are, all these many years later. And the XB-40 is readily  
available and Low keys (?) and even yet I don't think it is as big a hit as it  
should have been. 

Players were complaining for years that if only they could "get some more  
bends" that would let them play more notes. So what happened? Rick Epping   got 
Hohner to produce it and not too many people came. 

I think the XB-40 offers TOO MANY bends and as a result is over the heads  of 
the average harp players and they can't handle that much freedom. Instead of  
a few bends on the low end and couple on the top end; they've got them all 
over  the place and they don't know what to do with them.

But I love my XB-40s and Kochs and Slide Harps -- I wouldn't have any other  
way.

 Phil Lloyd
Contributing editor emeritus
American Harmonica Newsmagazine

In a message dated 3/26/2008 9:21:06 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
cpierce1972@xxxxxxxxx writes:

Hi  gang,

I've added a few things to the Harp-L Google group:

http://groups.google.com/group/harp-l

I've added to the "Harp-L related  pages" page (under
the Pages section, oddly enough):

1) Harp-L  Archives Custom Google search (created  by
fjm)
http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=013608849180833093060:du7nx8djues

2)  Harmonica Price Custom Google search (created  by
me)
http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014541162739732761547%3Atymduw6lnhi

3)  Harp-L Archives Yahoo Group (also created by  fjm)
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/harp-l-archives/

I created  #2 because I got tired of going to X number
of sites to compare  prices.  Don't know if it really
saves me any time, but it's still  neat.

I'll probably add more store URLs to it as I go along
(feel  free to email me and let me know if there are
any I should  add).

Also, I have uploaded two files to the Files section:

1)  DIATONIC.TXT - That's right, all caps.  Nice, huh? 
This is a salvage  from the HarmoniGopher days.  "SHORT
HARP TIPS (Getting Started on the  Diatonic Harmonica)"
by Jack Ely.

2) HARPAMP.TXT - Also from the  HarmoniGopher.  "THE
HARP AMP MINI-FAQ" by Randy  Lilleston.

Thanks again to Jack and Randy for creating  these
primers, all those years  ago.

FYI,

Chris

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